As many of you know, the NYW&B was an ambitious heavy electric commuter railroad that served eastern Westchester County in the 1st half of the 20th century. It never met expectations and was scraped in the early 40s after closing down in the late 30s. It ran next to the New Haven from the South Bronx to Port Chester. One branch ended in White Plains, where it ended in a terminal in the area of the Galleria Mall. From the terminal site, it was supposed to extend into southern New England (which never happened). Its southern terminus was near the Harlem River crossings to Manhattan in the South Bronx. There where 2 main reasons for its demise. First of all, the population density of Westchester County did not grow fast enough to support it. Secondly, it left you nowhere. You still had to take a subway into Manhattan.
There are many remnants of this road alive today: bridges, old stations, trestle remnants, etc. One the I had never seen was the "shrine to the NYW&B" in the Food Court of the Galleria. I made it there this past summer.
Here are some links for further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...r_and_Boston_Railway
http://www.rrpicturearchives.n...eThumbs.aspx?id=1135
http://forgotten-ny.com/2012/0...ton-railroad-part-1/
By the way, my interest in this railroad stems from high school. From 1967-71 I regularly road the Dyre Avenue subway to Cardinal Spellman High School. I was always curious as to why the stations where so different from the rest of the IRT system. I discovered why in the 80s......the Dyre Avenue subway was the Bronx part of the NYW&B that was taken over.
Peter